MEDICAL SURVEY OF THE TOWN OF TAYTAY. 251 



clothes are soaked for a moment in the water and then piled conven- 

 iently at hand. She then selects a piece from the pile^ soaps it, 

 and laying it upon the stone, beats it smartly with a piece of wood 

 shaped for the purpose, dipping the latter from time to time into 

 the water, until all the soap is finally removed from the garment. The 

 piece is then wrung out and placed in the basin, and another is taken. 



The women usually do their washing in groups and are accompanied 

 by the smaller children of the family of both sexes, who, up to 8 or 9 

 years of age, play in the water, nude. When all the clothing is washed, 

 the children are also scrubbed, water being poured over the head and 

 shoulders from a coconut shell. The women then proceed to bathe 

 themselves in the same way, rubbing the body with the hands or with 

 a fold of the skirt. A shampoo with gogo which much resembles soap- 

 bark, usually accompanies the bath. When the bath is finished, the 

 camisa is put on, then a dry skirt, under cover of which the wet one is 

 dropped about the ankles, and the dressing may then be finished at 

 leisure. 



If there is no stream convenient to the house, the washing is done 

 near a well, a can of water being drawn and poured into the basin, the 

 clothing piled on a board or stone until the washing is completed, then 

 the soapy water is poured on the ground, and the clean clothes carried 

 home in the basin. Here, too, the woman bathes herself after washing 

 the clothes. From this habit of bathing and the spilling of the water, 

 as it is drawn from the well and poured into the vessels, it results that 

 the ground around the mouth of the well is practically always sloppy 

 and muddy. Men bathe in the same manner, keeping on the drawers or 

 tying a garment around the middle as a loin cloth. 



Besides the bath, almost the only care taken of the person is that 

 given to the hair, and a comb of hard wood is almost the only toilet 

 article used. The women comb the hair very carefully and fasten it in 

 a knot at the back of the head or back of the neck. Coconut oil is 

 universally used as a dressing for the hair. Toothbrushes, hairbrushes, 

 mirrors, etc., are not used among the lower classes. Washing the face 

 and hands is considered necessary only when there is a visible soiling., 

 Head lice are evidently common, judging from the frequency with which 

 one woman is seen inspecting another's hair. 



NIGHT SOIL. 



Of 1,299 houses in Taytay which were inspected and the conditions 

 found noted, 591, or 45.4 per cent, were without provision of any 

 description for the disposition of night soil, while 342 houses, or 26.3 

 per cent, were provided with outhouses. The latter are small structures 

 of bamboo and nipa, usually raised to the level of the- house, and 8 to 10 

 meters distant from it. Two hundred and sixty-six of these outhouses 



